I planned to retired at 40 mortgage-free – here’s how I did it

When The i Paper spoke to Royal Navy photographer Joel Rouse five years ago, he had an ambitious goal – to clear his mortgage and leave work at 40. Now he tells us how he achieved this milestone and what he’s learning along the way. I retired from the Navy at the start of March – the day before my 40th birthday, which was a nice birthday gift. My wife Stacey and I have been super-busy since then. We’ve been off to Mallorca on a road trip, then Spain and Brussels and went up to Scotland to catch up with friends and family. We’re about to go to Greece for a family holiday, and then we’ve got plans in October to do a Workaway, a programmne where travellers volunteer a few hours of help each day in exchange for free food and accommodation. We’re going to work on a château in France, followed by a pig farm, and then we plan to see family in Europe before returning to the UK. So we’ve hit the ground running. Shorts After that, we’re looking at a long haul trip, possibly Thailand, for a couple of months over winter. Five years ago I said my plan was to travel Europe in a campervan. That’s still the plan. Obviously, Brexit has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works in terms of how many days we can stay in the Schengen zone. Planning in and around that now takes more thought, but in fact there’s so much to do in the UK so we plan to do more travelling here. While visiting Scotland we did the NC500, the north coast 500-mile road trip, which was amazing. These are all places you might not otherwise go to because you’re doing other things. And we’ve now got time to do them. Joel and his wife bought a Renault Trafic campervan they named Bumper Why I don’t call it retirement I did once say I wanted to retire at 40, but I’m not really keen on the concept of “retiring” or “retirement” full stop. I’m only 40 years old and still have a lot of energy. I think it’s a case of now doing things because I can, not because I necessarily have to. I’d say we’re comfortable in that we’ve broken the back of our finances and no longer have a mortgage to pay, so we don’t have to go to work – but we’re not averse to work. This is why we’re going to do Workaway. Getting to work on a château and a pig farm are probably things I would never otherwise do. Travelling, as we’ve found so far this year, can be quite tiring. When you’re jumping on planes and trying to plan flights, the camper and seeing people, life is unbelievably busy. However, I can’t complain and we’re enjoying every moment of it. Photography is a huge part of my life – I love it so much – so I plan to do more and I regularly post my work on my Instagram page @joelrouse. We bought a Renault Trafic Camper Van about seven years ago and named it Bumper. I write about our travels at The Bumper Crew – it’s nice to put things on it and it’s occasionally useful to people. How we fund our lifestyle We bought a narrowboat, which means we don’t have to pay rent or a mortgage. We’re moored in West Yorkshire and it is now our base when not travelling. I joined the Navy as a submariner, so living on a narrowboat is far more accommodating than living on a submarine. We have two rental properties and a good amount of money in the bank, which produces a bit of interest. I’ve got a pension from the military that’s paid immediately. We basically live off that. We set a budget of £2,000 a month but our income is higher than this. We’ve always saved and not spent every penny of income – that’s helped us get to this point and will hopefully continue to set us up for the future. We became mortgage-free on our two rental properties about two years before I left the Navy. We were in living in military accommodation in London, which put us in a fortunate position through having lower-than-market rent, boosting our ability to save. Stacey was working as a nanny but has stopped temporarily while we figure out what to do next now I’ve semi-retired. I have a son, aged 20, who’s working and not financially dependent on us. We’re not averse to going back to work. If we chose a different lifestyle – for example if we had to go back and live in a house (which is entirely possible) – then we’d probably have to figure out another plan. If we stumbled upon the right job in the right place, doing the right thing, we’d potentially take it. What retirement looks like Every day is different – that’s what’s nice about having the freedom not to work. We take things slowly in between trips away. I like being outside and do a lot of walking, running and cycling. It’s a pleasure not to have to set an alarm to go out to work. You can see people, do things, get outside and enjoy the world. We don’t know where we’re going to be in the next few years. If we need that money for something else, or if we want to put down roots somewhere, then we’ve got that flexibility. That’s a key part of all this – the flexibility to adapt and move where we need to, when we want to. That’s what early retirement gives you.